Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in a scene from the 1943 classic film "Casablanca." ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Americans know more about “The Simpsons” than the First Amendment, a McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum study says, as if we needed a study. One in four Americans can name more than one First Amendment freedoms, but more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family. “D'oh!”

Some things just resonate better with media-saturated culture. This isn't entirely negative. It can be shorthand for remembering what's important. Great movie quotes register with contemporary consciousness precisely because they touch something meaningful in us. It's not so much life imitating movies, as movies telling us about life.

To make political and social realities more meaningful let's call on a few memorable sound bites. They are, after all, “the stuff dreams are made of.”

The faltering sequester in Washington, the ever-expanding debt ceiling and our balanced-budget-averse politicos reveal something obvious about American leadership. It's devoid of leaders. Otherwise, long ago we would have trimmed expectations, bridled spending and tempered appetites. But most Americans remain blind to the obvious truth that Washington is the problem. We know this because most Americans still expect Washington to fix what Washington messed up.

To explain what really is happening, let's draw from that seminal American flick, “Animal House”:

Otter: “I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part!”

Bluto: “We're just the guys to do it.”

Put that way, even frat brothers ought to be able to understand the mindless fumbling that passes for wisdom in D.C. As Mark Twain put it, “Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”

Headlines announced last week that President Barack Obama had called in computer “experts” to fix the Obamacare Rube Goldbergesque online registration device. Anyone familiar with the finale from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” immediately recognized what was going on. The scene shows the ark being boxed up and wheeled into a vast storehouse of countless other boxed-up items under government control, never to be seen again, let alone remedied.

Maj. Eaton: “We have top men working on it now.”

Indiana Jones: “Who?”

Maj. Eaton: “Top ... men.”

We are assured that similar “top” people are busily at work on the Obamacare online disaster, even as you read these words. Don't expect a workable solution anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the Obama-friendly mainstream media places blame for what's amiss by seeking out their favorite culprits: Republicans, particularly of the Tea Party-inclination. As police Capt. Louis Renault said in “Casablanca,” “Round up the usual suspects.”

Washington doesn't have a monopoly on such inanities. California, after all, is the home of Hollywood. That's why it's not surprising that California also is home of the don't-expect-it-to-run-any-time-soon high-speed rail. Voters were told in 2008 that the train to quickly link Northern and Southern California would cost about half of what it's currently expected to cost, that it would average more than 200 mph, or about twice what it's likely to average, if it's ever built, and would be ready to roll by 2020, even though environmental challenges, lawsuits and a serious lack of funding guarantee that estimate isn't even in the ballpark.

The predictable Hollywoodesque response in Sacramento has been to press ahead nevertheless, based on the unrealistic notion that if track can be laid, someone will pay to ride on it. If this sounds familiar, it's because the film “Field of Dreams” was based on the same principle: “If you build it, he will come.” “Field of Dreams,” of course, was a charming movie. And a fantasy. Fiction. Never happened in real life. Like California's superfast train.

When, as is inevitable, schemers must admit that what they attempted has failed, and the public grudgingly concedes that their hopes have been dashed, it's like a scene from the best movie ever made, “Casablanca.” Remember when Capt. Renault orders Rick's Café to close?

Rick: “How can you close me up? On what grounds?”

Capt. Renault: “I'm shocked, shocked, to find that gambling is going on in here!”

[A croupier hands Renault a pile of money]

Croupier: “Your winnings, sir.”

Capt. Renault: “Oh, thank you very much. Everybody out at once!”

Yes, the hypocrisy of government is, as Forrest Gump might observe, like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get, but rest assured, you're going to get it. Thanks to governmental schemes and ineptitude, too many Americans are being reduced to the poor suckers Auntie Mame spoke of in that eponymously titled movie:

“Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!”

At what point will Americans, movie-lovers and “Simpsons” aficionados alike, agree with Howard Beale, the outraged, demented TV news anchorman in “Network,” and shout, “I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!”?

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